Kaolin
by rolyaht
Summary: There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms. Sakura centric.


A/N: Kaolin is a type of clay, incase anyone wants to know :) Also, this is really old crap, and I don't like it. But I thought I should upload SOMETHING. xD

**Warning**: Spoilers ahead, please make a U-turn if this road is the wrong one for you.

Disclaimer: All characters associated with _Naruto_ manga and anime belong to Masashi Kishimoto._ All Rights Reserved Kishimoto Masashi._

P.S.: I do know that some (well most) of these events are out of order, I wanted it that way =) Sorry I keep talking...

* * *

Sakura remembered, she remembered everything. She remembered her weak self being, her long hair, her time of feeling complete; Sakura remembered everything.

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She remembered Ino.

Ino, her best friend and rival. Ino was strong, so strong already and she was only in grade school. Ino had always been popular and confident and the light that made Sakura a mere shadow. She had cut her hair off in show of her rivalry, she argued and tried to better her self but she remembered, she always remembered.

_"There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms."_

That was the start of their friendship, wasn't it? Those simple words.

Sakura had become one less tear stronger.

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She remembered Kakashi.

No one had such wild hair and obvious, shameless perversions. Sakura was weak and made a lot of mistakes during missions and observations, but Kakashi was always there to correct her. She had learned quiet a bit from his subtle comments and heard them so frequently in her head up to this very today. He'd become first a mentor, then a father. She had her own, but Kakashi was different. Kakashi was a part of her emotional family, something that would live in her forever. Because you see, Kakashi never had to care about Sakura, and she knew that; he did, though. He wasn't forced to by the bonds of blood, he wasn't forced to at all.

"_Don't look away... When you live like a shinobi, this is how it ends."_

Why is that upon Kakashi's death she heard these words, Kakashi's words, echoing in her head?

After that, she never looked away. Through tears, she never looked away. She was fourteen words stronger.

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She remembered Sasuke.

She was crazy in-love, head over heels, gonna-lose-it-all-without-him devoted to him. Sasuke never once looked her way, never fulfilled those fantasies of '_Come Sakura, runaway with me_'. But he did save her on many accounts and she was the only female he bothered in sharing his time with. Friend. Yes, she was Sasuke's friend.

"_Even after all this time, you're still annoying…"_

That was proof enough.

Looking back on it now, Sasuke had pushed her to become the woman for him. Now though, where did that motivation go? It wasn't to become _his _woman, but to be strong enough to reel him back to Kohona.

After Sasuke left, Sakura cried and became one night stronger.

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She remembered Granny Chiyo.

What a woman. Her crazy laughter and aged wisdom; Sakura only knew her a short time and she'd made such an impact on her. Granny Chiyo had a husband she loved and past she regretted, but she never gave in, or up. She helped to kill the boy she cared for, the one that haunted her memories. Sakura admired her.

"_So few women possess such strong spirit, you'll likely surpass your teacher…"_

There hadn't been any form of a lie shaking her voice. She was calm and honest. She meant it. And Sakura still cried.

Sakura became one death stronger in a field of green.

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She remembered Tsunade.

She asked to train under her, because Sakura knew she was the only woman with so much pain in her sake that if anyone else took a sip they would die from it. She drank herself to sanity. She made Sakura punch her way there. Each day, each drop of sweat, each tear shed was the growth of a new woman. Tsunade was making her a woman.

"_From now on, I'm gambling everything too. I'm putting my life on the line."_

Tsunade was the most beautiful lady, making herself over come anything. She was a mother to all.

Sakura became two-and-a-half years stronger with the song of sake.

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She remembered Naruto.

Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…she never forgot Naruto. She never forgot the orange clad, knuckle head ninja that rambled words of his love to her. She never forgot what an idiot she thought he was, how much of one he still is. She never forgot his fight or determination; she still watched it grow, grow, grow out of control into a spiral of chaos. His love for people, strangers he didn't even know; his strive to help anyone and everyone; the way he used his brokenness to heal the broken; the way he was unafraid to show his angry tears because _they were for the pain of others_; the way his smile could push anyone to fight so hard; the way his smile could just make you stop crying; the way he was genuine and courageous. Naruto was a different story in Sakura's life, and he had the strength that if people just _looked _they would see he was going to make all of his dreams come true.

He was Sakura's strength, and worry, and sorrow, and breath. He was Sakura's best friend.

"_I'm not going to take back my words. That's my way of the ninja!"_

Those old words and all the ones after filled up the chapters of Sakura's life, they pushed her further than anyone could know.

She became stronger everyday, consciously, with Naruto one fight, one tear, one friendship, one memory at a time.

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Sakura remembered her team and the walls around them. Sakura remembered how the walls broke and everything in them started falling away from Kohona, away from the happiness, away from _her_. She was becoming a real woman alone. She still cried, she still wished, she still hoped. She was still Sakura.

But she was no longer weak, no longer useless, no longer going to be forgotten by history.

She sat her picture of team seven and their past down on her bedside table, wiping a small tear from her eye. Out in the world, her two friends were fighting each other at heart and at mind. One was being chased while the other did the chasing. He can't chase alone, and Sakura is no longer useless. So, she got to her feet and went to help Naurto run, run, run after Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.

Remembering did works for Sakura, but she thought she should leave that where it was when she closed her door.

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This fan fiction is the property of Rolyaht.

_rolyaht Copyright 2009_


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